The guayule plant, Parthenium argentatum Gray, which grows principally in the southwest United States and Mexico is known as a potential domestic source of rubber and organic chemicals. See, for example, the book "Guayule Reencuentro en el Desierto" published by Consejo Nacional de Ciencia y Tecnologia, Sal Tillo, Coahuila, Mexico (1978) and the magazine "Emergency Management," published by the Federal Emergency Management Agency, Washington, D.C., 20472, volume I, no. 4, 1981, pages 4-9. Rubber and other useful organic materials can be obtained from guayule by known processes involving comminuting (grinding) the material, extraction and/or water flotation. While much attention has been directed to the recovery and processing of elastomeric materials from guayule, less attention has been directed to utilization of the other organic materials which can be obtained from these sources such as resin. Since large amounts of rubber will probably be recovered from guayule in the future, it is clear that large amounts of other guayule organic products, such as oils and resin, will also become available. Therefore, methods for processing these other guayule products to convert them to useful materials such as liquids and gases which can be used as fuels, lubricants and chemical feedstock are of increasing interest. The present invention accomplishes these goals.